II SS Panzer Corps

The II SS Panzer Corps was a German Waffen-SS armored corps that was active from July 1942 to 8 May 1945. The corps was formed from the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, and it took part in the November 1942 occupation of Vichy France before being sent to the Ukraine in 1943. Paul Hausser led the corps as a part of Army Group South, fighting at the Third Battle of Kharkov. After the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler division was sent to Italy to disarm the Royal Italian Army after the Italian armistice with the Allies, while the rest of the division continued to fight against the Soviets.

From September to November 1943, the division took part in anti-partisan operations in Yugoslavia, and it killed 2,000 partisans and 2,000 civilians in Istria while losing 936 men. The corps remained in Slovenia, Istria, and northern Italy even as Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was sent back to Russia, and the corps was stationed in Alencon, France from January to April 1944 before being sent to relieve the 1st Panzer Army in Eastern Galicia. In June 1944, the corps returned to Western Europe to fight in the Battle of Normandy, and Wilhelm Bittrich took command of the corps on 10 July 1944 after Hausser was reassigned to lead the 7th Panzer Army. In August 1944, the corps fought in the Falaise Pocket, and it also fought in Operation Market Garden. The corps suffered heavy losses against the US 82nd Airborne Division and the US 101st Airborne Division at the Siege of Bastogne, and it waged defensive battles in the Eifel region. In February 1945, the corps was sent to Hungary to recapture Budapest and the Hungarian oil fields, taking part in the failed Operation Spring Awakening offensive before retreating to Vienna, Austria. After the successful Soviet Vienna Offensive, remnants of the corps attempted to break out to the west, and the corps surrendered to the US Army on 8 May 1945.